This was a first for me. Was anchored about a half mile off edisto fishing, with no other boats around, and heard a funny noise that I thought was a pump or something. Looked up and there was a drone hovering right off the side of the boat with its camera pointed at us. The interesting part to me was how quickly my attitude toward the drone changed. At first it was like, oh cool. A drone. And I waved to the camera. A minute later I was like, ok this is kind of creepy followed shortly by- get the #@&* out of here, and finally to I am bringing my gun the next time.
Hooked a fish we had to follow and the drone actually followed us around while we were fighting the fish.
Someone on the beach had a pretty good POV system to be able to do that. 1/2mi is pushing the limits. Most have a built in limiter for distance that’s required by the FAA. Limits height and distance from the controller.
Had one do something similar in Adams Creek in Rockville while fishing one day. It showed up, and I thought it was cool. It hung around for 4 or 5 minutes, coming very close to the boat. I got fed up and swatted at it with a push pole and it left.
When coming out of the creek, it came back and followed me down the creek. I then saw the operator on the dock of a rental house on the creek. He had some choice words for my attempt at knocking it out of the sky, so I quietly idled down the creek and out of sight.
Part of me wishes I would have succeeded in knocking it out of the sky, just to prove a point.
It was from some folks off the beach. Saw it flying down the beach later. I had never seen one before. It was amazing how stable it was in 10-15kt winds.
I’m pretty sure South Carolina has a law in place that protects hunters and fishermen from being harassed while they are legally engaged in hunting and fishing.
I don’t think they will let you shoot the drone down, but report the guy to DNR and let them handle it.
I saw a govt drone fly over folly beach a few weeks back. Stayed about 300 ft above the water and was ultra quiet. It was smaller and more narrow than a cessna 172 size aircraft. Crazy things will be happening in the near future
No big deal. Probably just some tourists on the beach messing around. They will be gone soon enough. Thought I would share since it has been a slow week on the forum. Hopefully we will be reading fish reports instead of this stuff soon.
The very wide angle on a GoPro makes you have to get really close to see much detail. That is probably why it got real close to you.
I would have a very hard time not swatting it out of the sky. I am really uncomfortable being spied on. I’m sure others are too. It’s just the beginning of what is to come.
How will we know, military or civilian, and who.cares???
This ‘crap’ is over the top, not just a ‘fun toy’, when other illegal uses become a dangerous weapon, those things will NOT be welcomed in any personal environment, that could endanger a person’s safety, if illegally used.
IMO, our gov. Is responsible to forbid that type equipment from th e open market. Then, the freedom of purchase issue gets some people upset on that side ie: too much government.